Apple iPad 3 will have A5X chip and 8MP camera

The ever-leaky internet has served up some fresh Apple iPad 3 rumours this morning, hot on the heels of the 2048x1536 leaked retina display that we covered over the weekend.

First up is a photo from a forum post at Chinese site WeiPhone which reportedly shows an Apple iPad3 logic board touting an A5X processor, contradicting previous speculation of an A6 processor. This would suggest that the iPad 3 will have an enhanced version of the iPad 2’s A5 processor with improved graphics, as opposed to a brand new fully-fledged quad core A6 processor.

On paper this means that the iPad 3 will be under-powered compared to its quad-core Android tablet rivals, but as the iPhone 4S’ iOS optimisation has demonstrated, you don’t need to cram in lots of cores for a speedy and fluid iOS experience. Only time will tell how the iPad 3 swill stand up against its quad-core rivals like the Asus Transformer Prime.

The iPad 3 will also be getting an 8MP camera according to NextMedia – a significant upgrade from the paltry 1MP snapper currently found on the iPad 2. The position of the lens on what appears to be the rear of an iPad 3 case remains roughly the same, although the lens itself seems to be bigger, suggesting an improvement in overall image quality.

Photos allegedly comparing  the rear of the iPad 3 with the back casing of iPad 2 also show that iPad 3 case seems to have more of a gradual taper to the edges than the iPad 2, resulting in the camera being embedded in the taper itself.

That’s a lot of Apple salt to swallow in one morning, so check out our Apple iPad 3 rumour round-up to digest all of the speculation in easy to manage chunks until the official unveiling which has been tentatively chalked down for March 7.

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